AllThingsD » H-P

HP’s NFC-Equipped Ultrabook Comes to Market

Lauren Goode — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:46:03 +0000

You might recall that at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, Ultrabooks were all the rage.

You might also remember that a couple of those laptops managed to stand out from the crowd — including Hewlett-Packard’s Envy Spectre 14, which goes on sale today.

Showgoers were abuzz about the glossy, Gorilla Glass-coated Spectre — despite the fact that at almost four pounds, it weighs slightly more than some other ultra-thin, Intel-driven Ultrabooks. At $1,399, it’s 20mm thin with a 14-inch screen, supports up to 256 gigabytes of storage and boasts up to nine and half hours of battery life. It also has a backlit keyboard and “proximity sensors” that light up when a user is approaching the laptop and, naturally, it has HP’s Beats Audio built in.

Another notable feature is that it incorporates near field communication technology, like the kind we’ve been seeing in mobile phones for quick, one-tap payments. HP says that the NFC tech in the Spectre, which is built into the left side of the palm-rest area, will be compatible with NFC-enabled Android phones.

So, how will it work, exactly?

After downloading the HP Touch to Share app from the Android Market, Spectre owners that have an NFC-enabled Android phone will be able to transfer URLs from the Android phone to the Spectre using NFC. For example, if you’re browsing the Web on your phone, you can then tap your screen and transfer that page to the laptop’s Web browser.

You can’t currently share photos, music or other media this way, an HP spokesperson confirmed. And while NFC is often associated with e-commerce, that’s not the usage we’re talking about here. (Since the laptop isn’t a payment terminal, you can’t, for example, browse Amazon.com, see something you’d like to buy, open up a wallet app on your phone and tap the screen with your phone to pay.) But it is a way for smartphones to “speak to” the laptop without using wires or cloud apps.

The NFC market for mobile is expected to grow dramatically over the next few years, with IHS iSuppli forecasting 544.7 million NFC-equipped cellphones to be shipped by 2015 (from 93.2 million last year); it’s likely that we’ll see this tech coming to more devices outside of mobile phones and tablets.

Nintendo, for one, recently said it plans to bring NFC to its long-awaited Wii successor, where it will be used to transfer gaming data.

Do You Really Want a 3-D Laptop? HP Hopes So.

Lauren Goode — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:01:50 +0000

Over the past couple of years, 3-D has been making its way onto PCs faster than consumers can say, “Wouldn’t it be great to watch a two-hour movie on my laptop while wearing battery-operated glasses?”

Tomorrow, Hewlett-Packard is launching the newest version of its HP Envy 17 with 3-D capabilities, alongside the new HP Envy 15 and Envy 17 notebook PCs, available through HP Direct.

For gamers, a 3-D PC offers different kinds of gaming options, and on a larger screen than a handheld device has. But do consumers — hardcore gamers aside — really want a 3-D PC? Let’s take a look at some of the technical specifics and other factors to consider when it comes to computers with 3-D options:

Hardware and glasses:
As the technology gets more advanced, more 3-D laptops are expected to come to market with autostereoscopic (glasses-free) screens. Toshiba, for example, recently introduced the Qosmio F750 (in Europe) and Qosmio F755 (North America); both laptops run Windows 7 and feature a 15.6-inch Toshiba TruBrite 1080p autostereoscopic 3-D display.

But most 3-D laptops — such as the Sony VAIO F 3D, the Origin EON15 3D, the Dell Alienware M17x R3 and the Dell XPS 17 with optional 3-D screen — currently have stereoscopic screens, which means users have to wear glasses to experience the 3-D effect.

Nvidia’s 3D Vision kit is commonly bundled with these laptops and includes a pair of the necessary glasses, as well as a 3-D vision USB controller/emitter.

The kinds of glasses consumers are supposed to wear vary, as well: There’s the “active” kind versus the “passive” kind. Nvidia’s 3-D glasses, for example, are active-shutter lenses (read: battery-operated) that create the 3-D image by rapidly shuttering the left eye and then the right eye. Passive — a.k.a. polarized — 3-D glasses are cheaper, look a lot like sunglasses, and work by allowing different levels of light into each eye. Note that these are different from the anaglyph cardboard glasses you might have worn at the movies as a kid.

So, if the 3-D viewing doesn’t give you a headache, the lack of standardization in this industry just might.

Content: It’s the chicken-or-the-egg problem: Hardware makers can’t sell 3-D products well without enough 3-D content for people to watch and play; content creators are hesitant to invest in making 3-D material when the format hasn’t yet been adopted on a mass scale.

But games may indeed be the shining star when it comes to 3-D on PCs. Game developers have been creating games with inherent 3-D capabilities for many years now; consumers just didn’t have the display options they now have to view the games. And 3-D PCs often include super-fast graphics cards that are optimal for game viewing.

In terms of content volume, Nvidia says its 3D Vision Kit includes software that converts “hundreds” of standard 2-D games to 3-D, including popular titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Battlefield 3.

Price points: Despite the fact that slowing demand for PCs has been pushing netbook and notebook prices down for consumers, 3-D laptop pricing still ranges on the high side. Dell’s Alienware M17x R3 and XPS 17 (with 3-D screen), Toshiba’s Qosmio F755 and the Sony VAIO F 3D all currently retail for around $1,500.

The bottom line: laptops with 3-D capabilities tend to be more expensive at a base price. Add in the cost of active-shutter glasses when they’re not bundled in — anywhere from $40 to $150 — and consumers are paying even more.

Where does the new HP Envy 17 3D fit in?: The new HP Envy 17 3D does have some nice features, such as a 17.3-inch 3-D, LED Radiance display with full 1080p HD viewing, backlit keys, an upgraded touchpad and a Blu-ray and 12.7mm DVD-RW slot. It runs Windows 7, has an Intel Core i5-2340M processor, and its list price is $1,599.99, which includes one pair of 3-D glasses (it does not work with the Nvidia 3D Vision kit). Hopefully, battery life will show improvement from the last Envy 17 3D, which some reviewers complained was short-lived.

Readers, what do you think: Would you buy a 3-D laptop?

How TouchPad Stacks Up to iPad (Video)

Walt Mossberg — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:43:57 +0000

On digits today, Walt spoke with Lauren Goode and Julia Angwin about his review of the HP TouchPad. While the strongest point of the TouchPad is webOS, its poor battery life relative to the iPad, paucity of apps, and numerous bugs are the primary reasons why he’s not recommending the TouchPad over the iPad for most consumers.

During his D9 session, HP CEO Léo Apotheker stated that the company would not release a product that wasn’t perfect. Walt mentioned that this comment might come back to haunt Apotheker as HP tries to penetrate the market dominance of the iPad with the TouchPad.

[ See post to watch video ]

TouchPad Needs More Apps, Reboot To Rival iPad

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:31:04 +0000

A small army of multitouch tablet computers has been launched this year to take on Apple’s iPad, which has managed to sell 25 million units and attract 90,000 tablet-specific apps in just about 15 months, and is already in its second generation, the iPad 2. So far, none of these contenders has gained any significant traction with consumers or app developers.

[ See post to watch video ]

Now, the world’s largest PC maker, Hewlett-Packard, is entering the fray. On Friday, it will start selling the TouchPad, a 10-inch tablet with a slick, distinctive software interface. The TouchPad starts at $500, the same entry price as the iPad 2.

I’ve been testing the TouchPad for about a week and, in my view, despite its attractive and different user interface, this first version is simply no match for the iPad. It suffers from poor battery life, a paucity of apps and other deficits.

The TouchPad comes in two versions, with 16 or 32 gigabytes of storage and, at launch, offers only Wi-Fi connectivity, though a model with a cellular data option is planned.

Clever Interface

I like the interface a lot. Instead of a screen full of app icons, the main screen of the TouchPad’s operating system, called webOS, presents running apps as “cards”—large, live rectangles that you scroll through in a horizontal row.

When you tap a card, it fills the screen and is ready to use. To minimize it, you just swipe up on the bezel surrounding the screen. A second swipe takes you to a screen from which you can launch or download a new app. To get rid of a card, you just flick it upward, and it disappears. Multiple cards can run in the background.

And these cards are clever. For instance, the contacts and photo cards combine both local and online content, from sources like Google and Facebook; and cards with related functions, like an email message and an attachment you’ve opened, are stacked atop one another.

You can make Skype video and audio calls directly from the messaging apps. And if you buy a forthcoming H-P webOS smartphone, you can link it to the tablet wirelessly, and send and receive voice calls and text messages from the tablet, or transfer a Web page from the phone by tapping the phone on the tablet.

The TouchPad presents running apps as ‘cards’—when you tap one, it fills the screen and is ready to use.

Hardware and Battery

But the tablet’s hardware is bulbous and heavy compared with the iPad 2 or the svelte Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, an Android tablet. Worse, it’s missing some key features common on the other tablets, like a rear camera or even a camera app for taking videos and still pictures. It has a front camera that can be used only for video chats.

I found the TouchPad’s battery life was only 60% of that of the iPad 2. In my standard tablet battery test, where I set the screen brightness to 75%, keep the Wi-Fi connection active and play local videos back to back, the TouchPad lasted just 6 hours and 5 minutes, compared with 10 hours and 9 minutes for the iPad 2. H-P claims 9 hours of continuous video playback, but that’s with Wi-Fi turned off. In mixed use, battery life was decent.

Apps

When H-P bought webOS a year ago this week as part of its purchase of the system’s inventor, Palm, one hope was that the giant company’s clout would attract lots of apps to the platform. But the TouchPad will launch with just 300 tablet-optimized apps and only 6,200 webOS apps overall, most written for phones and only 70% of which can run on the tablet, in a small, phone-size window that can’t be expanded. That compares with 425,000 total apps for the iPad and 200,000 for Android tablets, nearly all of which can run on tablets even if they aren’t optimized for the tablet.

This first TouchPad has no app, such as Netflix, for streaming TV shows or movies (though its Web browser, unlike the iPad’s, can run Adobe Flash and can stream videos via the Web). Its version of the QuickOffice productivity suite, unlike the same product on the iPad, can’t edit documents, but merely displays them. My test unit lacked stores for directly downloading TV shows, movies and music. H-P says a music store will be available at launch and a video download store “shortly” after launch.

Glitches

I also ran into plenty of bugs in my tests, even though H-P said I was testing a production unit. For instance, on various occasions, the email app failed to display the contents of messages, the photos app failed to display pictures, and the game “Angry Birds” crashed repeatedly. All of these problems required a reboot of the device to resolve.

In addition, I found the TouchPad grew sluggish the more I used it. Again, a reboot was needed to restore normal speed. H-P acknowledges most of these problems and says it is already working on a webOS update, to be delivered wirelessly in three to six weeks that will fix nearly all of them.

Browsing and Skype

The Web browser generally worked well, but Flash was uneven. Most Flash videos played fine, but some froze or stuttered badly, even on a fast Internet connection. A site written entirely in Flash wouldn’t even load. After a few false starts in my tests, Skype video worked well. I even conducted a smooth 50-minute TouchPad-to-TouchPad video call with a senior H-P executive.

Typing

Typing on the TouchPad’s virtual keyboard—the first in a webOS device—was a mixed bag.

The keyboard has five rows instead of the four on the iPad, which spares you from the iPad’s tedious switching of keyboard layouts to, say, type numbers or exclamation points. And you can shrink or enlarge the keyboard, a nice touch.

However, the TouchPad’s auto-correct didn’t insert the apostrophe in some common words, such as “don’t” and “won’t,” slowing me down, and it lacks the common feature that inserts a period when you hit the space bar twice, a feature I missed constantly.

Also, I found it much harder to correct words, because there is no magnifying glass or similar effect to help you precisely place the cursor. H-P does sell a physical wireless keyboard for $70.

Pluses

Despite these problems, in many ways the TouchPad is a joy to use. Its new version of the operating system, webOS 3, was rebuilt with tablets in mind.

As on competing tablets, key apps have been rewritten to take advantage of the larger screen.

For instance, the email app, which can combine numerous accounts, has three sliding panels—one listing accounts and mailboxes, another listing message headers and short previews and the last containing an email’s contents.

Wireless printing is built-in and worked well in my tests. The universal search function, called Just Type, works with just about every feature and app on the TouchPad. You can even type in a status message and send it to Facebook.

Notifications and common settings like Wi-Fi connections are handled discreetly and easily accessed via drop-down icons at the top of the screen.

Bottom line

H-P stresses that webOS is a platform and that the TouchPad is just one iteration of it. The company plans to add the operating system to numerous devices, including laptops, and hopes that this scale will attract many more apps. And it pledges continuous updates to fix the current shortcomings.

But, at least for now, I can’t recommend the TouchPad over the iPad 2.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at walt.mossberg@wsj.com

Picking Out a Laptop in the Brave, New World of Tablets

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:02:19 +0000

It is too soon to replace my twice-yearly laptop buyer’s guides with tablet buyer’s guides, but some days it feels like I should. Much of the energy that companies once poured into laptop designs and advances seems to have been drained off into a massive race to create tablet computers.

[ See post to watch video ]

Still, while tablets are important, they don’t fully replace laptops, at least not yet. There remains huge value in the portable, clamshell-shaped computer with a physical keyboard, lots of ports, plenty of storage and more horsepower than tablets offer. So, here is my annual spring laptop buyers’ guide, a basic cheat sheet to the most important factors in the shopping process.

While I’ve focused on laptops, much of this advice also applies to desktop computers, a fading species. As always, these tips are for average consumers doing the most common tasks. This advice doesn’t apply to businesses or to hard-core gamers or serious media producers.

Timing

The first thing to consider is that you may want to wait to replace your laptop. Apple’s iPad, and the tablets coming in its wake, have put the computer industry in reset mode. If you own a tablet, you are likely to rely on your laptop less often, extending its useful life. And if you don’t, you’ll probably find over the next year or two that more interesting choices will appear as companies try to bring tablet qualities to laptops and laptop features to tablets.

Some early inklings: Apple’s MacBook Air and the Windows-based Samsung Series 9 start almost instantly, like tablets, and use chips for file storage, like tablets do, instead of hard disks. Also, Apple will soon roll out a new Macintosh operating system, called Lion, that displays programs as if they were tablet apps, and it already has an iPad-like app store for the Mac. Microsoft is working on a version of Windows, likely to appear next year, that fuses tablet and PC concepts. This software will run on some current computers, but new hardware, more tailored to these systems, will be coming.

As for tablets, some companies are working on designs that go beyond the iPad template to somehow integrate physical keyboards and traditional ports. This would certainly blur the lines and make for new, intriguing choices if you wait.

Tablets vs. Laptops

Laptop shoppers now need to consider if a tablet will suffice—especially if they are looking for a highly portable, secondary machine, as I noted in my last guide. The new iPad 2, which still starts at $499, has at least twice the horsepower of the original model, and now boasts 65,000 tablet-optimized apps. It is gradually morphing into a productivity platform—able, for instance, to edit videos. And it has now been joined by similarly powerful competitors running a new tablet version of Google’s Android operating system and by the $499 PlayBook, the first tablet from Research in Motion, which boasts speedy hardware and a new operating system. Hewlett-Packard’s new tablet, based on Palm technology, is coming soon.

Tablets tend to beat small, low-cost laptops in weight, start-up speed and battery life. And they are competitive for lots of common tasks, such as Web browsing, email, social networking, and viewing or playing documents, photos, videos and music.

But laptops still win for intensive work like creating long documents, or doing anything that requires precision and benefits from a physical keyboard. They also are more compatible with printers and external disks.

If you can’t wait, or don’t want a tablet, you’ll find relatively little has changed in laptop-land in the past six months or so. Here’s a rundown of what you should look for in a laptop.

Windows vs. Mac

As always, capable Windows 7 laptops cost less and offer much more variety than Mac laptops. The latter start at $999, while a few basic, full-size Windows machines can be had for $300 and the decently equipped Windows models are in the $500-to-$800 range. And Apple refuses to make tiny netbooks, leaving that dwindling category to the Windows guys. But Apple laptops combine sleekness, durability and strong battery life with well-regarded customer service. Macs can run Windows, at extra cost, if you need to use a program that is Windows-only, and they come with better built-in software. Finally, Mac users generally needn’t worry about malicious software, since it’s nearly all designed to run on Windows.

Memory

I recommend 4 gigabytes of memory, or RAM, on a new Windows computer, though a Mac will perform well on 2 gigabytes, unless you’re designing complex graphics. A new Windows machine should be labeled “64-bit” for best performance.

Processors

The newest, and most advertised, chips in consumer laptops are Intel’s i3, i5, and i7 Core models. But a PC with chips from rival AMD, which usually cost less, or older Intel dual-core chips, will do fine for most users.

Graphics

Pay attention to this, even if you aren’t big into video or games. Many computers offload nongraphics tasks to potent graphics chips for speedier operation.

In general, less-expensive machines have wimpier graphics hardware, and costlier ones have more-powerful graphics. Some have both and can switch between the two as needed.

Hard Disks

A 320 gigabyte hard disk should be the minimum on most PCs, though 250 gigabytes are fine for many average users. Solid-state disks, which lack moving parts and use flash memory, are costlier but faster and use less power. However, they usually have less capacity. As more data are stored online, huge amounts of local storage will be less crucial.

Ports

Many PCs now come with a port called HDMI, which makes linking to a high-definition TV easy. There is a new, much faster USB port, called USB 3.0, but so far, few peripheral devices can use it. And Apple has introduced yet another high-speed connector that has little practical use so far, called Thunderbolt.

Again, with the industry in flux and tablets on the rise, if you can wait to buy a laptop, do so. But if you must take the plunge, don’t buy more laptop than you need.

Find Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

No Signal: Homes Often Baffle Wi-Fi From Routers

Geoffrey A. Fowler — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:55:59 +0000

Technology companies are touting wireless homes, where we can download a book in the tub and beam a movie from a tablet to the television set. But too often, that potential doesn’t live up to the reality of sluggish and flaky wireless networks.

My apartment has more than a dozen devices that feed off the network: two laptops, a printer, an e-reader, wireless speakers, two smartphones, an iPad and more. Yet getting gadgets to connect to my two-year-old wireless router is a dark art. I can surf the Web on the street in front of my house, yet can’t get a signal sitting in bed. In desperation, I even tried dangling a router—the equipment that takes your Internet connection and shares it with the devices in your home—from the ceiling in an effort to distance it from interfering walls.

Surely, covering a whole apartment is a problem that the decade-old Wi-Fi industry can solve. So I tested four top-of-the-line home wireless routers, each of which features the latest generation dual-band “wireless N” technology designed to increase performance.

The result was disappointing. None of the routers could deliver a 100% consistent wireless experience that could take advantage of the latest technology, like Apple’s AirPlay media-streaming service.

One came close, thanks to a controversial signal-boosting feature that could potentially interrupt my neighbors’ networks: the Netgear WNDR3700, which retails for $169.99. Another, the $179.99 Cisco Linksys E3000, was runner-up in some tests, but still sometimes dropped out when streaming music.

My tests weren’t scientific studies of signal strength and speed. Every home is a different combination of size, building materials and potential competition for precious wireless bandwidth, such as other Wi-Fi networks and cordless phones. Even pets can obstruct signals. Because of that, router manufacturers won’t even offer estimates on the range their devices can serve.

I conducted real-world torture tests designed to see how the routers might perform in challenging scenarios at completing tasks like streaming media to iPhones and moving large files between computers. I didn’t test devices known as repeaters, which extend the range of an existing network, because I wanted to see how far I could push the routers on their own.

My 100-year-old apartment building features materials that act like kryptonite to Wi-Fi signals, such as metal mesh in plaster. Worse, my urban San Francisco building is surrounded by apartments with their own Wi-Fi networks—25, at last count.

For balance, I also tested the same four routers on my friend Mark’s suburban house, which competes with fewer neighboring Wi-Fi networks, but is larger. In our suburban tests, the routers performed in largely the way they did in the urban environment, though in that setting both the Netgear and Cisco performed admirably. A third model, the $109.99 Belkin Play N600HD, performed adequately.

All the routers I tested, which included the $179 Apple Airport Extreme, feature a technology called simultaneous dual band. This means they really run two networks. Devices that need to receive a lot of data, like video, can use the digital equivalent of a carpool lane, while the rest of your data take the regular highway.

That seems like a good idea, but the technology made little impact in my tests, because many devices don’t yet support the new frequency, 5 GHz. The iPad does, but the iPhone 4 does not, and nor did my older H-P laptop. Moreover, 5 GHz comes with a drawback: its signals usually can’t travel as far through walls as the older technology, transmitting at 2.4 GHz.

Rather than overall speed, the biggest Wi-Fi problem I encountered was getting the network to reach the nooks and crannies of the house. To test that, I compared the ability of each router to stream media to a device like my iPhone in trouble spots, such as my dining room or Mark’s patio.

The results were often stark. To Mark’s upstairs bedroom, the Netgear and Cisco routers could stream a video with ease, but the Apple would sometimes slow to a crawl. When I sent a file over the network to that same spot, the Apple router was sometimes one-tenth the speed of the Netgear and Cisco.

In my urban apartment, only the Netgear router was able without interruption to stream music from an iMac to speakers about 50 feet and five walls away. The music would conk out occasionally with the Cisco router, and quite often with the Belkin and Apple.

And even the Netgear would stumble when I tried the latest feature for the iPhone called AirTunes, which lets you stream media from an iPhone or iPad to the Apple AirPort Express or Apple TV. That technology requires the data to take a longer round trip to its final destination, stressing the network further.

With the Netgear router, I experimented with a setting called “performance mode.” Using it significantly improved the reliability of the network in some parts of my apartment, and put Netgear into a higher class.

But that option, which is sometimes called “channel bonding” or “20/40″ mode, is controversial because it essentially pushes signals from your neighbors’ Wi-Fi networks out of the way.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, which certifies Wi-Fi equipment, said it now requires routers to switch to a neighbor-friendly mode if other networks are around—but this Netgear router was certified prior to that rule. The other router makers say they either don’t offer the option, or automatically downscale when there are neighboring networks.

Wi-Fi technology shouldn’t make me have to choose between my neighbors and my network. A Netgear spokesman told me that in my situation, neighbors aren’t likely to feel an impact, because my impenetrable walls keep the signal from traveling very far anyway.

Being a good neighbor aside, I’d recommend either the Netgear or Cisco routers for users looking to cover a tough space—and hope that the networking industry can come up with even better technology soon. In the meantime, moving a router away from objects that can degrade the signal, like mirrors and refrigerators can help. And the desperate can fall back on a wireless repeater.

Apple Airport Extreme, $179
The most pleasing to look at and simple to install, but suffered from slow transfer speeds and frequently struggled to stream music to difficult locations.

Belkin Play N600HD, $109.99
Acceptable and sometimes impressive file transfer speeds, but often dropped the connection while streaming music.

Netgear WNDR3700, $169.99
The least pretty, but most reliable, especially when using the potentially neighbor-unfriendly ‘performance mode.’

Cisco Linksys E3000, $179.99
Fast in most tests, but sometimes cut out when streaming music. A good option for the less technically inclined

Walter S. Mossberg returns next week.

Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com

A Fall Guide: How to Pick Your Next Computer

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 02:05:08 +0000

If you’re shopping for a new computer this fall, you won’t find big surprises. But you’ll still have to juggle a lot of technobabble terminology and watch your budget. Perhaps the biggest question for some buyers will be whether to get a tablet or a laptop, now that Apple’s iPad is a proven hit and a flood of competitors is on the way.

[ See post to watch video ]

So, here is my annual fall computer buyers’ guide, a simplified road map to the key decisions shoppers must make. I’ve focused on laptops—the most common purchase—but much of this advice also applies to desktops. As always, these tips are for average users doing the most common tasks. This advice doesn’t apply to businesses, to hard-core gamers, or to serious media producers.

Tablets vs. Laptops: If you’re looking for a light-duty, highly portable computer, it’s worth considering the iPad, which starts at $499, instead of a small laptop. This is especially true if you’re in the market for a secondary computer, or one mainly for use on the go. Many owners of iPads, including me, are finding it handily replaces a laptop for numerous tasks, such as Web browsing, email, social-networking, photos, video and music. It has superior battery life, lighter weight, and it starts instantly. I don’t recommend it for people who are creating long documents, especially spreadsheets and presentations, even though it is capable of those tasks. And I don’t recommend it for users who require, or prefer, a physical keyboard.

If you don’t like the iPad, there will soon be alternatives. For instance, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, which has a 7-inch screen versus the iPad’s 10-inch display, and runs Google’s Android operating system, will be available this month from major wireless carriers. Sprint, for example, will offer it at $400 with a two-year contract. But some tablet buyers may want to wait till the first half of next year, when many more models will be available, and Apple will likely roll out the second-generation iPad.

Netbooks: These low-cost, low-powered little Windows computers are losing popularity, but are still available, typically for about $350 to $500. They are being hurt by the rise of tablets and by light but larger laptops. Some buyers also find the screens and keyboards are too cramped. But these are evolving. Some now have bigger screens and roomier keyboards. And Dell will soon introduce a sort of hybrid netbook-tablet. Called the Inspiron Duo, this model, starting at $499, has both a regular keyboard and a touch screen that flips around when the lid is closed to act like a tablet.

Windows vs. Mac: Windows laptops can be much less costly—and come in many more styles and varieties—than Mac laptops. The Macs start at $999, versus as little as $500 for a decently equipped Windows portable. Windows laptops are still dominant. But Apple laptops are stylish and reliable, and usually boot much faster than Windows machines, in my tests. Also, Apple scores high on surveys of customer support. Its latest models, like the new, light MacBook Airs, have extraordinarily good battery life. Macs also aren’t affected by the vast majority of malicious software, have much better built-in multimedia software and, at extra cost, can run Windows programs in cases where Mac equivalents aren’t available.

The light but speedy 13-inch Toshiba R705 offers good battery life.

Cost: Most of the popular consumer Windows laptops cost $500 to $800. You can get full-size laptops for as little as $280, but their processors and graphics are weak and some lack webcams. If you can afford it, a light but speedy 13-inch machine like the Toshiba R705 offers very good battery life for just under $800. All-in-one desktops typically cost around $1,000 and some, like the HP TouchSmart, offer touch screens with special touch software. Apple’s popular all-in-one iMac starts at $1,199.

Processors: The most promoted chips are Intel’s i3, i5, and i7 Core models, the latter two of which can turn on and off some of their functions to boost power or save energy. But there is nothing wrong with buying a PC that uses chips from rival AMD, which usually cost less. For average users, Intel’s older Core 2 Duo still works just fine, even with the latest software. Intel’s weaker Atom processor line powers most netbooks.

Graphics: Integrated graphics, which share the computer’s main memory, are fine for most common tasks, but costlier discrete graphics, which have dedicated memory, can speed things up by taking some of the load off the main processor. They also are better for games. Some computers have both and can switch among them.

Wireless: More and more laptops are coming with optional cellular modem chips in addition to Wi-Fi. These can be handy while traveling, but be warned that they require a cellular data contract, which can be costly.

Connections: If you plan to connect your laptop to a TV, look for a connector called an HDMI port, which is used on most high-definition TVs. Some laptops also come with a feature called Wireless Display, or Wi-Di, which, with an extra-cost adapter, can beam your laptop screen to a TV without a cable. There is a new, much faster USB port, called USB 3.0, but, so far, it’s on very few machines.

Memory: Aim for 4 gigabytes of memory, or RAM, on a new computer, and never settle for less than 2 gigabytes.

Hard disks: A 320 gigabyte hard disk should be the minimum on most PCs, though 250 gigabytes is OK if price is key, or if it’s your secondary machine. Solid-state disks, which lack moving parts and use flash memory like smartphones do, are faster and use less battery power. They cost much more, but are coming down in price fast. However, they typically offer much less capacity.

64-bit: Many models now use a 64-bit architecture, which allows properly written software to use more memory and run faster. If possible, buy 64-bit, which will become more and more important.

Touch: Some Windows 7 computers have touch capability built into the screen, though Windows wasn’t designed with touch as a core element and the combination isn’t ideal. Computer makers try to resolve this with special touch software, which you should try in a store. Apple laptops use huge touch pads as the multitouch surface, instead of the screen.

As always, don’t buy more machine than you need.

Find Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

SAP Changes Its Strategy in Oracle Copyright Suit

Cari Tuna — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:25:50 +0000

SAP AG shifted strategies in a long-running legal battle against Oracle Corp., moving to head off what it called an attempt by Oracle to create a “media circus” around the role of a former SAP chief executive who has been named to run Hewlett-Packard Co.

The German software company said it will no longer contest Oracle’s allegations that it contributed to acts of copyright infringement committed by a discontinued unit called TomorrowNow.

Previously, SAP had accepted liability for the unit’s actions, which included illegally downloading thousands of Oracle documents from its customer-support systems. But SAP had denied knowing of or contributing to those actions. A trial to determine damages in the case is scheduled to begin Monday.

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H-P Releases Its $800 Slate, the Latest iPad Rival

Nathan Becker — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:58:41 +0000

Hewlett-Packard Co. released a touchscreen tablet computer Friday that runs Windows, becoming the latest computer maker to jump into the fray following Apple Inc.’s debut of the iPad earlier this year.

H-P’s Slate 500 tablet can be bought on the company’s website for $799—above the price of most iPads, which range in price from $499 to $829, depending on storage space and wireless connectivity.

The Slate 500, which has an 8.9-inch screen, will run Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 7 operating system, and is targeted at business customers. IPads have a 9.7-inch screen.

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When Larry Ellison Met Marc Andreessen–A Silicon Valley Settlement Story (Plus Mark Hurd Returns Some Dough!)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 21:20:21 +0000

According to multiple sources, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison (pictured right) approached Hewlett-Packard board member Marc Andreessen (pictured left) to help broker a settlement between the companies.

While details are sketchy, sources said the often-obstreperous tech billionaire approached Andreessen to make peace, after a lot of public razzing of HP (HPQ).

Andreessen is a more-recent addition to the HP board and has become a Silicon Valley statesman of a sort since his earlier days as its resident bad-boy wunderkind.

In addition, regulatory filings show that former HP CEO Mark Hurd, whom the board was suing for moving to a job at Oracle (ORCL) after a controversial departure, returned stock to the company in exchange for the settlement announced earlier today.

BoomTown is delighted HP took my advice!

As I wrote last week about the need for a quick settlement after all the mess created when Hurd left HP after a sexual harassment claim morphed into a bizarre Silicon Valley soap opera:

“But perhaps–after all this mishegas–it is precisely what the tech giant should do, focusing instead on finding a new leader to compete with challenges from companies such as, well…Oracle.”

From the 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by HP:

On September 20, 2010, Hewlett-Packard Company (“HP”) announced that it had resolved litigation commenced on September 7, 2010 against Mark V. Hurd, HP’s former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer and President, for alleged breach of contract and threatened misappropriation of trade secrets in connection with Mr. Hurd’s employment with Oracle Corporation. As part of that resolution, HP and Mr. Hurd agreed to modify the terms of the Separation Agreement and Release entered into between them on August 6, 2010 (the “Separation Agreement”), a copy of which was filed as Exhibit 10.1 to a Current Report on Form 8-K filed by HP with the Securities and Exchange Commission on that same date. Under the terms of the modification, Mr. Hurd has agreed to waive his rights to the 330,177 performance-based restricted stock units granted to Mr. Hurd in January 17, 2008 referenced in paragraph 2.d. of the Separation Agreement and to the 15,853 time-based restricted stock units granted to Mr. Hurd on December 11, 2009 referenced in paragraph 2.e. of the Separation Agreement, which collectively represent the only remaining compensation that Mr. Hurd was entitled to receive under the terms of the Separation Agreement. The terms of the Separation Agreement have not otherwise been modified.

HP Bribe Probe Widens

Joseph Palazzolo — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:00:26 +0000

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) disclosed Thursday that a probe by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission of possible bribes the company paid in Russia is now wider than previously reported.

The disclosure, in an SEC filing, pertains to a long-running German investigation of allegations that HP, through a German subsidiary, paid bribes in Russia to secure a contract valued at €35 million, or about $44.5 million, with the office of the prosecutor general of the Russian Federation.

The contract spanned 2001 to 2006 and was for the delivery and installation of an information technology network.
U.S. authorities have joined in that probe, as The Wall Street Journal first reported in August.

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Will HP Now Stand for Hanky Panicky or Should It Settle With Hurd Over Oracle and Make It All Go Away?

Kara Swisher — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:00:21 +0000

Doubtlessly, in some business tome to come, it will all be depicted in glorious detail.

And here are three real-life scenes where BoomTown would desperately have loved to be a fly on the wall:

First: The boardroom perusal of the contents of the eight-page letter from former Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) outside contractor Jodie Fisher, sent to former CEO Mark Hurd, which set in motion the circumstances of his ouster–including the odd investigation into that personal relationship that only managed to turn up dicey expense reports.

Second: The welcome-to-the company-and-screw-HP pep talk that Oracle (ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison delivered to Hurd in appointing him co-president and also a director of the database giant.

And third: The furious HP board racing to the door to file a lawsuit against Hurd for the move.

What happens next should be interesting, especially since the idea of settlement has never been one of the tools in Ellison’s wheelhouse, who is doubtlessly egging Hurd on here.

And, after yet another curveball thrown up by Hurd, it is probably not what HP’s board is angling for either.

But perhaps–after all this mishegas–it is precisely what the tech giant should do, focusing instead on finding a new leader to compete with challenges from companies, such as, well…Oracle.

As it was obligated to do, the lawsuit that HP has filed runs through all the typical charges in cases such as this–almost all of which center on the use of confidential information and how Hurd was paid off not to do exactly what he has done.

It certainly is a lot of money–estimated to be about $35 million, depending on HP’s stock price–and hinges on a two-year confidentiality agreement Hurd agreed to.

HP is correctly avoiding any noncompete language, since California–the state where both Oracle and HP are based–shoots holes in those kinds of defenses.

Instead, as it noted in its lawsuit, HP alleges that Hurd “cannot perform his job at Oracle without disclosing or utilizing HP’s trade secrets and confidential information.”

Of course he cannot, but this should not keep HP’s board from settling, as much as it will pain it to do.

Such a move could not have been helped by Ellison’s typically outrageous remarks about how HP treated Hurd, calling the break between them “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”

And then yesterday’s statement by Ellison: “By filing this vindictive lawsuit against Oracle and Mark Hurd, the HP board is acting with utter disregard for that partnership, our joint customers, and their own shareholders and employees. The HP Board is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together in the IT marketplace.”

Of course, that’s just the kind of let’s-go-to-the-mattresses noise that HP needs to ignore, now that the longtime partners are clear rivals after Oracle’s $7.4 billion acquisition of computer maker Sun Microsystems.

This purchase put Oracle directly into the server and data-storage-systems business for the first time.

That’s the real reality for HP–and not the delicious “Real Housewives of Silicon Valley” reality show this has turned into.

And–as much as I would like to see Ellison upending a table onto HP board member Marc Andreessen–no amount of legal and public wrangling with Hurd is going to change that.

If it could not work with him any longer–a corporate psychodrama about which there is still much unsaid–HP needs to move on.

Of course, Hurd should not get off for manipulating the bad situation so deftly either, and perhaps should offer to return some, if not all, of the severance paid for his silence.

Or, it could all just come out in open court and give the world a glimpse into all the twisty machinations that got us here.

Which, as you might imagine, is just fine by me–although not so much for the shareholders of HP.

HP's Legal Woes Mounting

Beth Callaghan — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:10:39 +0000

Hewlett-Packard is having another bad day. Not only is the Justice Department demanding internal records in connection with allegations that Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) execs paid bribes in Russia to win a plum contract, but a Connecticut law firm has filed a shareholder suit against the company’s board for failing to perform its fiduciary duties during the series of events that culminated in the resignation of CEO Mark Hurd last week. Hurd is also named as a defendant, as is his interim successor, Catherine Lesjak.

In the Midst of Scrutiny, New Plant for Foxconn

Beth Callaghan — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:22:02 +0000

Despite scrutiny over a series of worker suicides at its Hon Hai plant in the southern Chinese city of Shenzen, Foxconn Technologies, a supplier to Apple, Dell, and HP, is planning to build another city-sized factory in the Henan city of Hebei. The company will recruit 300,000 workers for the new facility.

What Are H-P's Plans for Mphasis?

Dhanya Ann Thoppil — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:25:42 +0000

Ever since Indian software services exporter Mphasis struck a three-year deal to provide IT services to Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in April 2009, a big question on minority shareholders’ minds has been whether H-P might take its Indian partner private.

H-P owns a 60.6 percent stake in Mphasis and is the firm’s biggest client. The Indian company gets more than 70 percent of its revenue from the U.S. computer maker.

Looking at Mphasis’s relationship with H-P, analysts say they’re being reminded of the experience of Indian software firm Digital Globalsoft, a onetime Compaq unit that became part of H-P after their 2002 merger.

“H-P’s tough pricing tactics held sway through the first half of 2003 and Digital had to give significant price cuts to H-P which impacted its margins,” says CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets analyst Bhavtosh Vajpayee in a recent report.

The brokerage also raises concerns that Mphasis might face an encore of Digital Globalsoft’s “value-dilutive” merger with H-P’s India unit in 2003, when Digital agreed to take over HP Services’ India Software Organization in an expensive deal much to the ire of its investors.

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Deaths at Hon Hai Could Raise Questions for U.S. Companies

Charmian Kok — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:00:11 +0000

The death of another employee at Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer and assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry not only casts scrutiny on the working conditions at its factories in China, but could also fuel concerns for U.S. companies like Apple (AAPL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) that sell products made by Hon Hai.

Cardboard cutouts resembling iPhones were sent on fire by labor activists near the Hon Hai office in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
An employee of Hon Hai died after falling from a building at the firm’s plant in southern China Tuesday, following several others this year, China’s state media Xinhua news agency reported. Most have been ruled suicides, although the most recent death and several others have not been classified.

The cause of the spate in suicides among workers at Hon Hai, which also is known by its trade name Foxconn, is hard to pinpoint. Statistically, the rate of suicides isn’t exceptional given the size of the company’s staff–it has 800,000 workers in China, about half of those in Shenzhen–and it’s unclear to what degree the wave of incidents is a result of copycat behavior as found in suicide clusters elsewhere or if there are other factors.

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Palm Now Below HP Bid Price; So Much for Alternative Bidders

Eric Savitz — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:08:16 +0000

In case you hadn’t noticed, Palm (PALM) has quietly dropped below Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) $5.70-a-share bid price, as hopes for an alternative bidder to seem be slipping away.

The shares, which closed as high as $5.84 on April 29, the day after the deal was announced, dropped to the $5.70 level on Friday, and today are down three cents, to $5.67.

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U.S. Joins Bribery Probe of H-P Executives

David Crawford and Dionne Searcey — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:25:15 +0000

The U.S. has joined German and Russian authorities in investigating whether Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to Russian officials to win a contract in Russia, according to people familiar with the matter.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department are investigating whether H-P committed any violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, these people said, as part of a widening probe into the company’s activities. The SEC investigates civil violations of the FCPA, while the Justice Department has jurisdiction over criminal components of the U.S. law. The law bars American companies from bribing foreign government officials anywhere in the world.

A spokeswoman for H-P said the company had discussions Thursday with the SEC regarding the German investigation “and is fully cooperating with U.S. and German authorities on this matter.”

German prosecutors have centered their investigation of the suspected bribes on one current and two former senior executives of the U.S. computer maker, according to German court records and people familiar with the probe.

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H-P Executives Face Bribery Probes

David Crawford — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:00:20 +0000

German and Russian authorities are investigating whether Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to win a contract in Russia, according to people familiar with the matter.

German prosecutors are looking into the possibility that H-P executives paid about €8 million ($10.9 million) in bribes to win a €35 million contract under which the U.S. company sold computer gear, through a German subsidiary, to the office of the prosecutor general of the Russian Federation. The office handles criminal prosecutions in Russia, including many corruption cases.

Russian investigators raided H-P’s Moscow offices Wednesday in connection with the probe, the people familiar with the matter said. The search was requested by German authorities, according to a statement posted on the Russian prosecutor’s Web site.

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Firms Jockey for Space in Services

Justin Scheck — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:00:47 +0000

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Dell Inc. (DELL) and Xerox Corp. (XRX) are seeking new profits in the technology-services industry. But those companies face a major challenge: While competition is intensifying, their corporate clients are spending less on new deals.

Over the past two years, H-P, Dell and Xerox have spent billions to muscle their way into better positions in tech services. The market, traditionally led by International Business Machines Co. (IBM), is regarded as attractive because it provides steady revenue from customers who pay recurring amounts to outsource their tech systems like email or payroll.

But even as the total number of new services contracts awarded each year more than doubled globally between 2000 and 2009, the amount spent on those new contracts fell to $74.5 billion from $90 billion in the same period, according to tech-consulting firm TPI.

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H-P: Our Slate Will Be Worth the Wait

Justin Scheck — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:00:37 +0000

On the heels of Apple’s (AAPL) ballyhooed iPad launch it was rival Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) turn to try generating interest in a non-traditional portable computer. The PC giant on Monday posted a video of its forthcoming slate device, apparently to make a case that the product is worth waiting for.

The gadget, which looks a lot like an iPad, has received a share of the tablet buzz since Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer brandished a prototype during a keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. H-P has been touting the product as an example of the company’s ability to innovate.

In February, for example, an H-P spokeswoman noted that H-P has “led in slates” having publicly discussed such products since 2002. One key difference between H-P’s slate and the iPad, of course, is that the iPad is available in stores around the country, while the Slate still isn’t for sale.

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Cisco Ends Reseller Agreement with H-P

Ben Worthen — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:00:58 +0000

Cisco Systems (CSCO) on Thursday said it was dropping H-P (HPQ) from its reseller program, capping off a year in which the two tech giants have increasingly encroached on one another’s turf.

The change, which will take effect April 30, means that H-P will no longer have access to information like Cisco’s product roadmaps, which help partners make long-term plans for how to position Cisco gear. H-P will still be able to sell Cisco products to its customers, but it won’t be eligible for rebates and other incentives.

Cisco’s move is the latest sign of tension between the one-time partners. The networking giant used to count then H-P CEO Carly Fiorina among its board members, and H-P used to encourage its sales force to push Cisco’s networking gear. But last March Cisco unveiled a server system that competes with one of H-P’s core products. In November H-P bought 3Com so that its networking division could better take on Cisco.

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Dell Goes Small in Tablets as It Prepares iPad Competition

Justin Scheck — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:47:44 +0000

It’s like Groundhog Day for touch-screen PCs.

Yesterday’s device of tomorrow (see Bill Gates’s 2001 prediction that tablet PCs would outstrip laptops and of course the Apple Newton) is once again hot stuff, thanks to Apple’s (AAPL) iPad launch last month.

Now, other PC makers are hoping they can finally create a market for technology that’s been languishing for years.

But while Apple’s gotten the buzz, and H-P (HPQ) has gotten attention for its Windows-based Slate, which it previewed three weeks before the iPad, Dell (DELL) has taken a different approach.

The Texas PC giant has been showing its Mini 5–a much smaller touch-screen gadget than Apple’s or H-P’s–since early January. The device looks like a big iPhone and uses Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system. Dell says the Mini 5 will go on sale later this year. When that happens, it will end what John Thode, Dell’s vice president in charge of mobile devices, describes as a two-year process to figure out what people who’ve already got a smart phone and a laptop would be willing to buy.

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A Windows to Help You Forget

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:02:03 +0000

In just two weeks, on Oct. 22, Microsoft’s long operating-system nightmare will be over. The company will release Windows 7, a faster and much better operating system than the little-loved Windows Vista, which did a lot to harm both the company’s reputation, and the productivity and blood pressure of its users. PC makers will rush to flood physical and online stores with new computers pre-loaded with Windows 7, and to offer the software to Vista owners who wish to upgrade.

[ See post to watch video ]

With Windows 7, PC users will at last have a strong, modern successor to the sturdy and familiar, but aged, Windows XP, which is still the most popular version of Windows, despite having come out in 2001. In the high-tech world, an eight-year-old operating system is the equivalent of a 20-year-old car. While XP works well for many people, it is relatively weak in areas such as security, networking and other features more important today than when XP was designed around 1999.

After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft (MSFT) has produced. It’s a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use. Despite a few drawbacks, I can heartily recommend Windows 7 to mainstream consumers.

Like the new Snow Leopard operating system released in August by Microsoft’s archrival, Apple (AAPL), Windows 7 is much more of an evolutionary than a revolutionary product. Its main goal was to fix the flaws in Vista and to finally give Microsoft customers a reason to move up from XP. But Windows 7 is packed with features and tweaks that make using your computer an easier and more satisfying experience.

The new taskbar shows small previews of many windows and allows for larger previews.

Windows 7 introduces real advances in organizing your programs and files, arranging your taskbar and desktop, and quickly viewing and launching the page or document you want, when you want it. It also has cool built-in touch-screen features.

It removes a lot of clutter. And it mostly banishes Vista’s main flaws—sluggishness; incompatibility with third-party software and hardware; heavy hardware requirements; and constant, annoying security warnings.

I tested Windows 7 on 11 different computers, ranging from tiny netbooks to standard laptops to a couple of big desktops. These included machines from Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Dell (DELL), Acer, Asus, Toshiba and Sony (SNE). I even successfully ran it on an Apple Macintosh laptop. On some of these machines, Windows 7 was pre-loaded. On others, I had to upgrade from an earlier version of Windows.

In most cases, the installation took 45 minutes or less, and the new operating system worked snappily and well. But, I did encounter some drawbacks and problems. On a couple of these machines, glacial start-up and reboot times reminded me of Vista. And, on a couple of others, after upgrading, key features like the display or touchpad didn’t work properly. Also, Windows 7 still requires add-on security software that has to be frequently updated. It’s tedious and painful to upgrade an existing computer from XP to 7, and the variety of editions in which Windows 7 is offered is confusing.

Finally, Microsoft has stripped Windows 7 of familiar built-in applications, such as email, photo organizing, address book, calendar and video-editing programs. These can be downloaded free of charge, but they no longer come with the operating system, though some PC makers may choose to pre-load them.

In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows. That’s no longer true. I still give the Mac OS a slight edge because it has a much easier and cheaper upgrade path; more built-in software programs; and far less vulnerability to viruses and other malicious software, which are overwhelmingly built to run on Windows.

Now, however, it’s much more of a toss-up between the two rivals. Windows 7 beats the Mac OS in some areas, such as better previews and navigation right from the taskbar, easier organization of open windows on the desktop and touch-screen capabilities. So Apple will have to scramble now that the gift of a flawed Vista has been replaced with a reliable, elegant version of Windows.

Here are some of the key features of Windows 7.

New Taskbar: In Windows 7, the familiar taskbar has been reinvented and made taller. Instead of mainly being a place where icons of open windows temporarily appear, it now is a place where you can permanently “pin” the icons of frequently used programs anywhere along its length, and in any arrangement you choose. This is a concept borrowed from Apple’s similar feature, the Dock. But Windows 7 takes the concept further.

For each running program, hovering over its taskbar icon pops up a small preview screen showing a mini-view of that program. This preview idea was in Vista. But, in Windows 7, it has been expanded in several ways. Now, every open window in that program is included separately in the preview. If you mouse over a window in the preview screen, it appears at full size on your desktop and all other windows on the desktop become transparent—part of a feature called Aero Peek. Click on the window and it comes up, ready for use. You can even close windows from these previews, or play media in them.

I found this feature more natural and versatile than a similar feature in Snow Leopard called Dock Expose.

You can also use Aero Peek at any time to see your empty desktop, with open windows reduced to virtual panes of glass. To do this, you just hover over a small rectangle at the right edge of the taskbar.

Taskbar icons also provide Jump Lists—pop-up menus listing frequent actions or recent files used.

Desktop organization: A feature called Snap allows you to expand windows to full-screen size by just dragging them to the top of the screen, or to half-screen size by dragging them to the left or right edges of the screen. Another called Shake allows you to make all other windows but the one you’re working on disappear by simply grabbing its title bar with the mouse and shaking it several times.

File organization: In Windows Explorer, the left-hand column now includes a feature called Libraries. Each library—Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos—consolidates all files of those types regardless of which folder, or even which hard disk, they live in.

Networking: Windows 7 still isn’t quite as natural at networking as I find the Mac to be, but it’s better than Vista. For instance, now you can see all available wireless networks by just clicking on an icon in the taskbar. A new feature called HomeGroups is supposed to let you share files more easily among Windows 7 PCs on your home network. In my tests, it worked, but not consistently, and it required typing in long, arcane passwords.

Touch: Some of the same kinds of multitouch gestures made popular on the iPhone are now built into Windows 7. But these features won’t likely become popular for a while because to get the most out of them, a computer needs a special type of touch screen that goes beyond most of the ones existing now. I tested this on one such laptop, a Lenovo, and was able to move windows around, to resize and flip through photos, and more.

Speed: In my tests, on every machine, Windows 7 ran swiftly and with far fewer of the delays typical in running Vista. All the laptops I tested resumed from sleep quickly and properly, unlike in Vista. Start-up and restart times were also improved. I chose six Windows 7 laptops from different makers to compare with a new MacBook Pro laptop. The Mac still started and restarted faster than most of the Windows 7 PCs. But the speed gap has narrowed considerably, and one of the Lenovos beat the Mac in restart time.

Nagging: In the name of security, Vista put up nagging warnings about a wide variety of tasks, driving people crazy. In Windows 7, you can now set this system so it nags you only when things are happening that you consider really worth the nag. Also, Microsoft has consolidated most of the alerts from the lower-right system tray into one icon, and they seemed less frequent.

Compatibility: I tried a wide variety of third-party software and all worked fine on every Windows 7 machine. These included Mozilla Firefox; Adobe (ADBE) Reader; Google’s (GOOG) Picasa and Chrome; and Apple’s iTunes and Safari.

I also tested several hardware devices, and, unlike Vista, Windows 7 handled all but one smoothly. These included a networked H-P printer, a Canon (CAJ) camera, an iPod nano, and at least five external flash drives and hard disks. The one failure was a Verizon (VZ) USB cellular modem. Microsoft says you don’t need external software to run these, but I found it was necessary, and even then had to use a trick I found on the Web to get it to work.

System Requirements: Nearly all Vista PCs, and newer or beefier XP machines, should be able to run Windows 7 fine. Even the netbooks I tested ran it speedily, especially with the Starter Edition, which lacks some of the powerful graphics effects in the operating system. (Other netbooks will be able to run other editions.)

If you have a standard PC, called a 32-bit PC, you’ll need at least one gigabyte of memory, 16 gigabytes of free hard-disk space and a graphics system that can support Microsoft technologies called “DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0.” You’ll also need a processor with a speed of at least one gigahertz. If you have a newer-style 64-bit PC, which can use more memory, you’ll need at least two gigabytes of memory and 20 gigabytes of free hard disk space. In either case, you should double the minimum memory specification.

Aero Peek lets you see your desktop by making your windows transparent.

Installation, editions and price: There are four editions of Windows 7 of interest to consumers. One, a limited version called Starter, comes pre-loaded on netbooks. A second, called Professional, is mainly for people who need to tap remotely into company networks (check with your company to see if you need this). A third, called Ultimate, is mainly for techies who want every feature of all other editions. Most average consumers will want Home Premium, which costs $120 for upgrades.

The system for upgrading is complicated, but Vista owners can upgrade to the exactly comparable edition of Windows 7 while keeping all files, settings and programs in place.

Unfortunately, XP owners, the biggest body of Windows users, won’t be able to do that. They’ll have to wipe out their hard disks after backing up their files elsewhere, then install Windows 7, then restore their personal files, then re-install all their programs from the original CDs or downloaded installer files. Then, they have to install all the patches and upgrades to those programs from over the years.

Microsoft includes an Easy Transfer wizard to help with this, but it moves only personal files, not programs. This painful XP upgrade process is one of the worst things about Windows 7 and will likely drive many XP owners to either stick with what they’ve got or wait and buy a new one.

In my tests, both types of installations went OK, though the latter could take a long time.

Bottom line: Windows 7 is a very good, versatile operating system that should help Microsoft bury the memory of Vista and make PC users happy.

Correction: The edition of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system aimed at business users is called Windows 7 Professional. This week’s Personal Technology column erroneously stated it was named Business.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at walt.mossberg@wsj.com

Exodus: Apple Leaves Chamber of Commerce Over Climate Spat

Keith Johnson — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:00:50 +0000

And then there were five–defections from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its climate–change policy, that is.

Apple (AAPL) today resigned its membership in the Chamber “effective immediately.” That’s a harsher tone than the other departures–three utilities said they’d let their membership lapse at the end of the year, and Nike (NIKE) simply quit the Chamber’s board of directors.

At issue, again, is the Chamber of Commerce’s opposition to the Obama administration’s climate policy, most notably the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.

Apple has recently been on a green crusade to catch up to tech rivals Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) which have a shinier environmental reputation. And of course, Al Gore is on the Apple board.

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